1967 Chevy C10 - Crashed Flooded And Fixed

There comes a time in every man's life when he watches and listens to his father for advice. In the case of Shawn Shipers of Independence, Missouri, he paid close attention to his father, Denny. Denny was building and driving hot rods since Shawn was a wee little lad. So to say that Shawn was brought up with a gearhead mentality would be a very true statement.

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Everyone dreams about still owning his or her first car and lucky for Shawn his '67 Chevy is just that, his very first mode of transportation. Shawn purchased the pickup in early fall of '87, a month after his 16th birthday. A month after that, Denny and Shawn retreated to the garage to lower the C10 a few inches. Shawn drove the older version all through his high school years and on his senior year he got T-boned on the way to school. The result was a lot of down time for the truck until Shawn could save enough money to fix it.

When Shawn set out to fix the damage his pop mentioned the idea of tubing the bed and shortening the axle to fit some meaty tires on the back-and so began the rebuild. Shortly after the process, however, Shawn got a job at a local truck shop that specialized in aftermarket accessories and installs. Shawn left the old '67 to rot in his pop's garage until one day his newer truck left him stuck on the side of the road. The only option was to dust off the C10 and drive it to work until he could save enough money to fix his daily driver, again. In '93 Shawn's town flooded and filled the cab with water up to the dash, so what better way to fix the water issue than redoing the dash? Shawn wanted something different and decided to use a dash out of a '59 Chevy Impala. The dash was a pain to install, but after a cut here, a weld there, and many late nights thinking about how to get it done, Shawn pulled it off flawlessly.

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Then, in late 2006, the original shortened housing broke an axle and folded one of the tires until it did major damage to the underside of the bed. That winter began the major redesign of the suspension and once again repair to the bed. Shawn added a full airbag setup on all four wheels. He channeled the frame so the body would sit on the ground with the new airbags. Next, the battery was relocated and all-new wiring installed followed by a one-piece window kit. The gas tank was also stuffed under the bed and the original fill hole was shaved. In total the truck took about seven to eight months to build, which seems like a long time because Shawn did it all himself in his two-car garage. The rubber chicken on the end of the turn signal was put on the end of the arm after Shawn's 16-year-old nephew broke it off. Shawn borrowed it from one of his nephew's toys, and it's been on the turn signal for about 12 years now. Some of the final touches to the bed were to make it look like wood and add the stainless strips so he could still carry a cooler and chairs when at the events.

One last thing about the truck's history: After it was done Shawn was cruising down the I-35 at 70 mph on the way to a Goodguys show when the hood latch failed. The hood came flying up and slammed the roof beyond repair. Shawn did what he does best and fixed the truck with a spare hood he happened to have lying around. Shawn didn't want to miss the event so he pulled an all-nighter repairing the truck. Fourteen hours later and the truck and Shawn were resting at the show.

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All we can say, Shawn, is that with as much as you have been through with your Chevy most of us would have given up a long time ago. Thanks for working your butt off and finishing your masterpiece of a truck. Now you can go drive it.